Chapter 218
Chapter 218
Chapter 218
Luciella (2)
"There really are disgustingly many of them."
Blue Dragon Kirchirus grimaced as he looked at the alien creatures densely filling outer space.
Seeing Kirchirus like that, Red Dragon Lord Calesta answered.
"It doesn't seem like such a bad sign compared to what I thought."
"I suppose I'm unavoidably a young one too. Hahaha..."
Although he was selected as the administrator of the blue world after his talent was recognized at a young age, Kirchirus was only around 3,000 years old.
It wasn't just Kirchirus.
When the Pantheon had previously released alien creatures and invaded the Dragon Hive.
Surprisingly, many young dragons willingly threw themselves into battle, eagerly fighting the alien creatures.
Moreover, when they clashed with the Pantheon at the Dragon Hive, there were more ancient dragons than expected who approached combat with enjoyment rather than duty.
Calesta let out a bitter smile.
"Yes, it can be called a side effect of our race's long isolation. We dragons have avoided fighting for far too long."
In fact, even 5,000 years ago when Calesta was most active, some young dragons actively argued that they should interfere in worldly affairs.
Even now that those dragons had become ancient dragons, they had only become slightly more moderate with age, but their combativeness was still vividly alive.
"But it's best to be careful. No matter how much young dragons can't control their blood, that combativeness stems from pride in their overwhelming combat abilities."
Due to sleeping for long ages, Calesta's experience couldn't be said to be exceptional compared to other ancient dragons, but...
"When that absolute confidence is broken, I have seen how miserable and ugly the pride of the dragon race, which prided itself on being the strongest on earth, can become."
He was the only one among the currently surviving dragons who had directly experienced the First Heaven-Demon Great War.
"Don't be careless. Even when your magic is depleted, your stamina hits rock bottom, and no breath comes from your mouth, those alien monsters will still fill your vision and rush at you to gnaw at your skin and flesh."
"I-I'll keep that in mind."
At Calesta's vivid statement, the shoulders of several young dragons who had been excited by their competitive spirit shrank.
'Yes, that's how the war with the demons was.'
The demon forces that had come to the middle realm now were nothing compared to 10,000 years ago.
Under seven monarchs called the Seven Seats, they filled the nearby universe and competed with the gods of heaven.
The current alien forces were far from the sense of overwhelming despair that Calesta had felt then, but even so, he couldn't be careless.
"These are lives that succeeded in surviving in alien environments harsher than the demon realm. Never be careless, and if you feel even slightly lacking in strength, preserve your energy and rotate with the standby team."
"Understood, Lord Calesta."
"The same goes for the elders. Never act alone. This is outer space, not the ground—situations where you deviate from orbit can occur at any time."
"We'll keep that in mind."
Although there were quite a few ancient dragons who were more mature than Calesta in terms of mental age, no one ignored the experience of Calesta, who had participated in the Heaven-Demon Great War from the time he had just emerged from being a hatchling.
"...It looks like they've already started over there."
In the distance, countless light beams were faintly appearing and disappearing repeatedly.
Calesta knew that those were wide-range laser bombardments.
"If we can see the battle situation from this far away, just how fiercely are they fighting?"
Kirchirus admired the battlefield of Elli, where sparse light beams could be seen.
This was a phenomenon that appeared because the bodies of the so-called Mysterious Lady Elli, had begun combat.
The distance between there and here was at least ten million kilometers, but they were fighting so spectacularly that it could be 'observed' from here.
"We should do at least that much too. Take out all the weapons we brought."
It was a prejudice that dragons fought only with overwhelming physical abilities and magic power.
Due to the Pantheon's sudden attack on the Dragon Hive, there hadn't been a proper chance to show it then, but the dragons who possessed the technology of the mythical age as it was had a civilization dozens of generations more advanced than the current era.
"Since this isn't the ground, it should be fine to rampage to our hearts' content."
"Hehehe, the time has come for the black flames sealed in my right arm to run wild."
Most of the 'legendary' grade artifacts wandering around on the ground were things that dragons had distributed to humans in ancient times.
That's how the dragons' military strength could be recognized as the strongest force in the middle realm, surpassing even the Pantheon where the war god Mars was holding his ground.
"Well then, shall we start spectacularly?"
True to being a dragon himself, a combative smile immediately formed on Calesta's lips.
***
"Number of destroyed entities: 172,352 as of current time. Estimated at 1.4% of total numbers."
"Confirmed that existing weapons have limitations. Requesting deployment of 4th-stage anti-star weapons."
"4th-stage anti-star weapon, Leviathan approved."
Elli, who had taken complete charge of one of the three defense lines, was currently continuing combat while smoothly grinding down the alien forces.
'...This is troublesome.'
While grinding down a whopping 170,000 entities, only about 30 of Elli's bodies had been destroyed.
But even so, Elli's expression wasn't very good.
'At this rate, there's a high possibility of being overwhelmed by superior numbers.'
Although she boasted an overwhelming engagement ratio, their numbers were 20,000.
In comparison, the enemy's numbers far exceeded ten million.
For now, she was blocking them smoothly, but with such a difference in numbers, even the slightest gap could result in being overwhelmed without any chance to respond.
BAAAAANG!
After grinding down 10,000 alien aircraft that had been attacking from below, Elli slowly retrieved her weapons and retreated her bodies.
'My role is to delay the enemy anyway. It's nothing new at this point...'
The problem was the alien lesser gods hiding among that massive army, waiting for an opportunity.
'The outcome of this front will depend on how we deal with them.'
Originally, the odds weren't that great.
No matter how much Elli could use anti-god weapons, the only weakness of the anti-god weapons she possessed was that their attack range was too narrow.
Even with power sufficient to blow away a city or country on the ground, in this kind of outer space, beings with divinity could respond adequately.
'Cunning ones. Do they plan not to act directly until they've confirmed all the cards I have?'
Whether to confirm her methods or wait for her strength to weaken, they were waiting for an opportunity to deal with this side for certain.
"Then I'll go first from this side."
Originally, showing your trump card first in this kind of long battle was tantamount to what's called a 'defeat flag.'
But Elli had her own reasons.
'If I kill those leaders first, those monsters will lose control and self-destruct.'
If that happened, victory on this front would be virtually decided.
'Master, the trump card you bestowed upon me. I will use it now.'
Following Elli's gesture, the bodies moved in perfect order and began taking positions according to a certain pattern.
It looked like they were creating a massive mobile magic circle to summon something.
BZZZZT!
"Summoning 1st generation terminal, Eldorado."
At the location where the Elysion Legion was positioned, a massive golden city began to reveal itself under Elli's guidance.
But that wasn't the end.
"Summoning 3rd generation terminal, Utopia."
Near Elli, an android in the form of a four-headed child appeared.
"Summoning 4th generation terminal, Dilmun."
Finally, with the appearance of Dilmun, the ark of the Adora civilization, all the terminals that Rudian had gathered came together in one place.
Utopia, who had the strongest ego among them, waved at Elli.
"Hey, Elysion! Even if Master permitted it, is it okay to go this far?"
Although asking in a cheerful tone, Utopia's words contained a small hint of reproach.
"That's right! No matter what, isn't this a somewhat hasty decision!"
The artificial intelligence of Dilmun, which had appeared in the form of an eye monster resembling Adi, also took Utopia's side.
But Elli was firm.
"Master entrusted me with all strategic and tactical decisions for this direction. So please quietly follow my instructions."
"If you fail, I'm telling on you!"
At the sight of Utopia crossing her arms and turning her head away sharply, Elli let out a small sigh and nodded.
"...Do as you please."
If she failed anyway, she would be nothing more than a worthless tin can that had lost her reason for existence.
So this operation... failure was impossible.
***
Luciella became aware of a sensation that was clearly different from before.
'...I can feel it.'
Her Qi sense, which had been only a few hundred meters, was expanding exponentially and advancing to a cosmic scale.
'This is... the realm of gods...!'
She could feel various types of powers being summoned in the distance.
And on the opposite side, she could feel dragons and demons serving Rudian joining forces in battle.
Her endlessly expanded Qisense was making her know everything even when she didn't want to know.
'Ah, Rudian is... in danger.'
She soon anticipated that a massive purple force would engulf Rudian.
And she realized that even Rudian would be unable to fully withstand that power.
'I have to help.'
SWOOSH!
The resonance of the seven-colored world was a power sufficient to destroy and recreate this world.
But the 'unbreakable sword of invincibility' was maintaining its form even while receiving that power.
Luciella took a step forward as she was.
With just that single step, Luciella was able to approach Krakar, who was hundreds of kilometers away.
-...!
It was the moment when she was about to break through Rudian's defense and unleash the divine power of Outer Force.
Krakar's eyes widened at the presence of Luciella, who had suddenly approached without any sign.
"...Something's strange."
Maria, who had been resonating the seven-colored world from a safe distance, noticed that the current situation wasn't normal.
"Why is all the power that should have been divided to Rudian... directed toward Luciella?"
Rudian had been desperately blocking Krakar until now.
Krakar's power, unrestricted by the laws of causality, was truly absolute, and Rudian, who had transferred most of his terminal power to Elli, was barely managing to hold on by relying on Diablo's power.
But if the power of the seven-colored world had been properly divided, there was no way Rudian would be struggling so much against Krakar even at this moment.
"Something's wrong. But it's not wrong. What on earth is this...?"
Originally, there was no way she could maintain her ego while receiving such power.
This wasn't simply a matter of mental strength.
Even Rudian, who usually tried to handle everything alone, hadn't tried to share the burden of resonance power until now, had he?
Yet now Luciella was maintaining her ego perfectly and acting normally.
But at that moment, Maria noticed it.
A very, very small and faint sense of wrongness.
Because Maria was more sensitive to energy than anyone else among her companions, she was the only one in the group who could notice that someone had intervened in this situation.
'Someone intervened. And not someone moderately strong, but a being with truly elevated status...!'
To avoid having the resonance of the seven-colored world interfered with by Krakar, the entire group had withdrawn to a great distance from the battlefield.
The resonance itself could be achieved even with distance, but the problem was that concentrating on that work made it difficult to communicate intentions to others.
But the bigger problem in the current situation was that she had felt the energy of the one who had just intervened somewhere before.
'This is... Miss Yev? No, someone even higher...!'
Maria's expression hardened seriously.